Russia To Halt Gas Supplies To Ukraine, considering Coal shipment Cuts.

Russia To Halt Gas Supplies To Ukraine, Mulling Coal Cuts.(Rferl).

Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak says Moscow will cut gas supplies to Ukraine for Kyiv's failure to pay up front for deliveries and might also suspend coal shipments to Ukraine in retaliation for a power blackout of Crimea.

Novak said on November 24 that the gas deliveries will be stopped "today or tomorrow due to the lack of advance payment by Ukraine," adding that Russia could retaliate "politically and economically" unless Kyiv restores electricity supplies to Crimea.

Russian-annexed Crimea continues to rely on emergency generators to meet its basic power needs after unknown saboteurs blew up electricity pylonssupplying the peninsula with electricity, in Ukraine's Kherson region over the weekend.

Pro-Ukrainian activists have so far prevented repairs to the damaged pylons and associated power lines.

The Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on November 23 that just one of the four damaged transmission towers could be repaired at the moment. Hmmmm......They knew they could not pay for the Gas, so blew up the pylons to escalate the situation?

#Russia may terminate coal supplies to #Ukraine as response to #Crimea blockade — minister https://t.co/GAkwC0Pb02

— rouge68 (@rougek68) November 24, 2015

No More Money for 'Money pit' Ukraine Unless Kiev Gets Rid of Corruption - Biden.

No More Money for 'Money pit' Ukraine Unless Kiev Gets Rid of Corruption - Biden. (SP). 

The White House is worried about a high level of corruption in Ukraine and worse of all by the fact that it isn't decreasing.

The United States told the Ukrainian government to fight against corruption more actively by carrying out anti-corruption reforms. Victoria Nuland, the Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs at the US State Department, stressed that Ukraine must get rid of corruption, as it represents Viktor Yanukovych's "old system."

US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt also spoke against corruption: "There isn't a problem in Ukraine today that is a bigger threat to the long-term success of the country than legalized corruption."

Last year, Ukraine was ranked 142nd (tied with Uganda and the Comoros Islands) on the list of the most corrupt countries in the world, conducted by Transparency International (TI). Hmmm.....Days after the EU just gave them another 1 Billion Dollar for Gas. By the way their total gas debt is now at $29,2 US $. Read the full story here.

EU Taxpayers to Pay 1 Bln Euros for Ukraine’s Gas Bill 'defaulter' Out of Their Own Pockets

EU Taxpayers to Pay 1 Bln Euros for Ukraine’s Gas Bill 'defaulter' Out of Their Own Pockets. (SP).

To keep Ukrainians warm, EU citizens will have to shell out a total of one billion euros, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) reported.

As Ukraine is broke and needs money to pay for gas for the upcoming winter, European taxpayers will have to cover the bill, the German newspaper predicted.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and European Commission Vice President on Energy Union Maros Sefcovic met in Vienna late last week. The sides agreed that Brussels will pay €500 million for Kiev's gas supply.

"Ukraine urgently needs to fill its gas storages to survive the winter," DWN said, adding that the €500 million only covered half of the bill and soon Brussels will need another half a million to pay Ukraine's gas bill.

The bill might increase if winter months turn out to be colder than the last year, DWN reported.

Kiev expects to receive a foreign loan for winter gas supplies by late October, which Novak had said would help finance 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Ukraine's underground storage facilities this and next month. Hmmm........$29,2 Billion in debt and counting.